WHITTIER – Tuesday’s walkouts at local schools yielded a couple dozen protesters who left classes at La Serna High, but the numbers fell far short of the hundreds of local students who took to the streets last year in support of immigrant rights.

Officials at the Whittier Union High School District said only 32 students from throughout the district walked out of class, while the Norwalk-La Mirada, El Rancho and Montebello unified school districts reported no disturbances related to student walkouts.

The 32 students who walked out were from La Serna, said Superintendent Sandra Thorstenson – but within a couple of hours, 29 had returned to campus.

The remaining three will be ticketed for truancy, which carries a fine of at least $165, and will be required to attend Saturday school, officials said.

The students who left La Serna just before 10:30 a.m. Tuesday made their way to nearby California High, which was undergoing its first day of state testing.

As dozens of motorists honked and cheered in support, the La Serna students walked south on Colima Road, west on Whittier Boulevard and south on Mills Avenue, holding a Mexican flag and yelling, “Si se puede!”

“\ are people too, and we just want a better life and work for our families,” said senior Estefani Lopez, 17.

But Lopez was among the first of the group to be convinced to go back to school by La Serna Principal Martin Plourde, who told the students they would face no penalties for the walkout if they went back to class.

By that time, La Serna officials had called the students’ parents – and in turn, parents were calling their children’s cell phones to demand an explanation.

“Nobody else in the district is walking out,” Plourde told the students. “Now’s your chance to go back to school and make a good decision.”

Once they were back at school, Plourde said the students were allowed to gather in the gym to talk about the issue of immigration, and offered to meet with a small group of them today to organize a rally on immigration next week.

“Some of the students will face consequences for truancy, but we don’t want them to feel like their freedom of expression is being completely squelched,” Thorstenson said.

“It’s a balance,” she added. “They are high-school students, but it is absolutely not appropriate and not tolerable to have them walk out of class, be truant and cause an unsafe situation on the streets, or be a detriment to the community.”

In downtown Los Angeles, as many as 10,000 people took to the streets to call for a clear path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

The goal, according to organizers with the March 25th Coalition, is to gain full legalization for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in America.

Last year, an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 people skipped work and school on May 1.